Re: The Sting

Glad DIF finally did this one, what an awesome, awesome movie. So many movies have cribbed from this play-book since, Ocean's Eleven being the obvious example. An even weirder one if you think about it is Inception, which is basically a sci-fi twist on the Sting.

Also, if you think Robert Shaw is scary in this, you really oughta give the "Taking of Pelham One Two Three" a watch. He basically plays Hans Greuber 10 years before Die Hard

Re: The Sting

Great episode, you guys. On a side note, related to an offhand comment one of you guys made during the proceedings: I'm curious to hear a commentary on The Birds; your general opinion of it seemed to be fairly negative, which surprised me, as it's considered one of Hitchcock's better films (an opinion I agree with).

Also, another side note related to an offhand comment made by Dorkman: go and buy the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover. It basically just rewrote the entire movie (not a shred of dialogue in it is in the screenplay), makes far more sense (parts of it are almost exactly in line with some of the fixes you guys suggested in your prequel commentaries), and is genuinely emotional and exciting. And Stover's description of the duel between Anakin, Dooku and Obi-Wan stands with the Princess Bride duel as one of the best swordfights in literature that I've read.

Re: The Sting

Haven't listened to the commentary yet, but what a great movie. I hadn't watch it in years and just marveled at it all the way thru. One thing I noticed is that if you made it today, it would be full of slinky dames. The two here are not exactly top shelf.

Re: The Sting

This one I certainly falla...

There is only one point of this film I dislike, and it's the opening con...and I really only dislike it because it happened to me before (I know, I know...experience is often the best teacher, and boy did I gain some XP that day)...

Other than that, short of doing my damnedest to imagine Robert Redford as Naive, great movie...

Re: The Sting

Re: The Sting

I get that.And I really enjoyed Leverage while it was running. However it really pushed the bounds of a traditional grifting/heist crew story and evolved into more extravagent type of capers. And while I love the Eliot stuff, I have to say, the ability to run a con with out the actual need for violence seemed much more ... in the vein of the Sting.

Re: The Sting

I've been waiting for an excuse to sit down with this. The lighting is brutal, Redford is probably too old and in my opinion there's one too many "Ya falla"s, but the movie is damn good.

It's ironically refreshing that Lonnegan never catches on to them for a reversal. And it works. The tension of the entire movie hinges on Shaw's incredible performance, even if it never happenes, you believe he at anytime could figure it out and then proceed to do unspeakable things to them. Instead we see a man blinded and eventually consumed by his own greed. The pokergame is one of the most tense and enjoyable scenes I've seen in a long time. Awesome.

I would definetly watch a word for word, scene by scene remake of this if they did it properly. I'm not a big fan of the movie's throwback aesthetics as is, the lighting, the sets, the music and the sometimes overstated acting. With more sensual photography and production in general this could be one of my favourites.

Re: The Sting

Fun episode about a completely great movie. Just wanted to mention a brief thing about the music. This movie was indeed so much the driving force behind a rediscovery of ragtime that people forget that the music is not at all contemporaneous with the period of the film. As mentioned, Scott Joplin died in 1917, and his first big ragtime hits were around the turn of the century. In other words, that music is actually 20-30 years out of date.

So, to refine the analogy that Mike made at the beginning of the episode, it's as if somebody now, today, made a film about the early 1970's - say a bunch of ex-hippies dealing with "the dream is over", the failure of the summer of love, etc. - and the music was entirely doo-wop, and that was the catalyst for a big top-40 doo-wop revival. I think my head would explode if that happened.

For the next hour, everything in this post is strictly based on the available facts.

Re: The Sting

sellew wrote:

So, to refine the analogy that Mike made at the beginning of the episode, it's as if somebody now, today, made a film about the early 1970's - say a bunch of ex-hippies dealing with "the dream is over", the failure of the summer of love, etc. - and the music was entirely doo-wop, and that was the catalyst for a big top-40 doo-wop revival. I think my head would explode if that happened.

Re: The Sting

Invid wrote:

sellew wrote:

So, to refine the analogy that Mike made at the beginning of the episode, it's as if somebody now, today, made a film about the early 1970's - say a bunch of ex-hippies dealing with "the dream is over", the failure of the summer of love, etc. - and the music was entirely doo-wop, and that was the catalyst for a big top-40 doo-wop revival. I think my head would explode if that happened.

So, ShaNaNa at Woodstock.

Pretty much, yeah. I'd completely forgotten about that.

For the next hour, everything in this post is strictly based on the available facts.

Re: The Sting

What a timely bump. Been making my way through the back catalogue and listened to The Sting episode today (and yeah, totally agree, great movie).

Also agree with this:

Seth_Brower wrote:

For a comedic take on this I can't recommend enough "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" Steve Martin in the Redford role & Michael Cane in the Newman role.

I can probably count on one, maybe both hands the number of times I've heard other people even remember Dirty Rotten Scoundrels exists. What a shame it's been forgotten. Rewatched it last week and it still holds up!

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful

Re: The Sting

So I finally got round to watching this and bloody hell, this was a brilliant movie. It seems that every time I watch a classic from the 70's, I just think 'Damn, I really love 70's movies'.

One thing that stood out for me listening to the commentary is how you guys didn't buy Robert Redford as Hooker 100%. Maybe it's because I have yet to see Butch Cassidy, but I was completely sold on him and thought he totally worked as the naive little hotshot.

Also, I had the same reaction as Teague at the beginning.Is that James Earl Jones? No, it can't be. Fuck, am I being racist? *checks IMDb*Phew...